XPS 8960, intermittent audio fault

Getting set up for recording is a challenge.  I had a home recording studio for 15 years.  I had a similar problem setting up a Dell laptop for client site recordings such as a live band gig.  I tried "cleaning" the computer for recording. I had recording dropout about every 8 minutes.  I installed a second SSD, installed Windows and only needed drivers (and recording apps - Cakewalk and Studio one 4, MOTU driver).  This fixed the dropout problem.    I could run Resplendence Latency Mon for hours error free.  I made a Dual Boot setup, the Dell original disc image and the second for recording.  

This doesn't offer a fix for your problem, but what I did for my system.  For my full DAW PC, I built my own tower PC, didn't use a prebuilt "consumer" PC.

Two items; (1) commercial Antivirus programs such as Norton, McAffee, etc have been known to cause DAW problems. I only use the built in Windows Defender and Malwarebytes.  (2) run the free (and popular) Latency Mon which may help locate the problem.

Resplendence Software - LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks

Firebird, thanks for this. I've read some comments that off the shelf PCs are no good for home recording but I think by mentioning Avid I may have clouded the issue. Working with Avid, Latency etc. are (for me) problems for down the road. At the moment I'm getting glitches with any audio playback - not processor intensive DAW work. A system with 2 x 2 TB SSD drives an intel I9 processor and 64 GB memory should not experience audio glitches playing a 4MB mp3 in VLC.

There is something clearly going wrong in the way the audio is being handled somewhere between NVidia, Realtek, Max Audio Pro - or some other entirely unrelated process that is somehow kicking in and causing an interrupt.

I only mentioned Avid in case someone has ideas that Avid Link or iLok could somehow could be causing an isssue because they default Startup without me actually opening them.

But I do appreciate your input and will definitely take a look at LatencyMon... once I get my PC to stop glitching whenever I'm on Skype, Youtube or trying to play some music - stuff that any PC should be able to do without problem... even my 12 year old Lenovo could play an mp3! I pay a fortune to replace it with a state-of-the-art Dell and now get randomly startled by loud, unpredictable robotic squawks from my speakers.

@recall9812​ Latency Mon is good for any audio, not just DAW.  Start with Latency Mon and see what it finds.

Fireberd, last night I downloaded Latencymon and ran it a couple of times. The summary made it clear my PC is not suitable for RealTime audio but the detail was complex and seemed to finger a different culprit every time I ran it. Later this week - when I have more time - I will run Latencymon again for a longer period and will come back with the results. But...

I still feel that if I spend a chunk of money on a state-of-the-art, powerful PC, it can't play a simple mp3 file that a battered old windows xp PC could run without glitching, then something is plain wrong without delving into the esoterica of pagefaults, interrupts, video card drivers and power throttling.

Last night I had audio on for over an hour without fault. Compared with saturday when I was getting a glitch every 10 mins. I can't help wondering if it's something to do with a scheduled task trying to rerun after failing first execution.

One area I'm concerned with is the graphics card. Though offered by Dell it is non-standard and so Dell staff may not be getting tons of complaints about it as part of the usual system. I also see a lot of internet comments having a downer on Nvidia. Though again, causing latency for high-power apps is one thing, but glitching an MP3 in Windows Media Player?

I'm hoping this forum will offer up the Eureka solution but failing that can see myself contacting Dell.

After I run latencymon, which particular report details would be of most help?

Thanks for your continued interest.

Main and Processes are the primary panels. Latency Mon can overload you with data.

A comment on NVIDIA.  I used built in Intel CPU video or AMD Radeon Video as NVIDIA caused audio glitches/dropouts.  That was fixed in recent video drivers but I'm still leery.  For testing, if there is a CPU video connection on the motherboard I/O panel disable NVIDIA and use the CPU video and see if you get the audio problems.  Using CPU video instead of NVIDIA fixed a user's problem a couple years ago that bought an XPS for DAW use.  Intel CPU video is more than adequate for ProTools/DAW use.

Freebird - first of all I really appreciate what you're doing here. Dell should give you a medal or a job or something. You come back incredibly quickly with useful info.

I will be posting some Latencymon data here later but...

I've actually just come off a remote support session with this really good person from Dell. She checked some settings, services etc. I'd already updated realtek but she walked me through a flash BIOS update and has given my case a number. So I'm getting some serious back up. I'm now having to keep playing audio until my random fault either reoccurs or stays gone for a week. It's frustrating. Sometimes it's every ten mins, sometimes only twice a day. What I can say, though, is I've been running Latencymon as I type and the values are all much lower than during my previous 10 or so tests. So there seems to be an improvement. The summary says my PC is still not good enough but "Highest Measured Interrupt" and "Highest reported DPC routine" are (believe it or not) usually completely full. Not so just now. That said, maybe it's just the time of day and some nasty process just hasn't had time to kick in.

I'm intrigued by your idea re. NVIDIA. I'm moderately tech savvy but not advanced. Are you talking about disabling via bootup software or by opening the PC and physically disconnecting something? Also a couple of days I did think about disabling NVIDIA via Control Panel but online forums are full of people who did something similar (assuming Windows drivers would take over) only to get stuck with a black screen! So I backed off from that. So if you could expand a little (not quite 101 but 102 :-), this is something I may very well give a go.

Thanks again. You've been great. Almost restores my faith in the internet!

@recall9812​ First thing is to identify the CPU model in your PC.  If its an "F" version such as i7 14700F there is NO integrated graphics so you can't disable NVIDIA.

Device manager MAY list what video(s) are available too, and you can disable NVIDIA there.  If you have integrated CPU video connect to that first then boot up, disable NVIDIA for testing.  You can access the device manager by RIGHT click on the START icon.

@recall9812 - @fireberd is offerings lots of good info about audio issues, as usual...

Let me throw out some other things to consider.  Could this also be a Power plan settings issue?

Reboot PC and open Device Manager. Expand list under USB. Double-click each USB entry and click its Power Management tab, if it has one. Uncheck the box "Allow PC to turn off...". Repeat for all USB entries.

Now expand list under Human Interface Devices in Device Manager and uncheck that same box for any HID entry that has a Power Management tab. Exit Device Manager when done. 

BTW: if you notice any "Unknown" entry listed in Device Manager, right-click and Uninstall it.

Next, open the Windows Advanced Power settings screen:
Click start>run>(type or copy/paste):
%windir%\System32\control.exe powercfg.cpl,,1 and click OK. 

(Yes, two commas after cpl)

On that screen, change the power plan at top to Max Performance. Then scroll down and disable Hibernation, Hybrid Sleep, USB Selective Suspend, and PCI Express Link State Management.  Set Processor Power Management to Max=100% and Min=>50%. Be sure to save the changes to the power plan before leaving that screen.

Now open NVidia control panel.  Click Manage 3D settings in left pane and scroll down right pane to Power Management Mode. Change that setting to max performance.  Close NCC and reboot PC.

Does that help..?

@fireberd​ Thanks for this. My chip is i9-14900K, so no F to worry about.

If I'm understanding you correctly:

I do have onboard Intel graphics. Task Manager shows 0% on all performance metrics. All the work is currently being done by the Nvidia.

I have not disabled Nvidia yet because I don't want a black screen. I connect to Nvidia by HDMI. The socket for the motherboard is DP. Ironically I bought a DP cable but couldn't get it to work with the NVidia so returned it for refund. But to summarise, the plan would be:

Buy DP cable and connect it to rear panel motherboard.

Unplug HDMI from rear panel Nvdia.

Start PC, check all is fine and THEN go to device manager and disable Nvidia? (and if it works, cry at the money I wasted).

I thought Dell had fixed the problem - I ran a whole 90 mins before the glitch returned. And latencymon figures are high again.

***Chatting with Dell as I type this and they are going to service the PC and replace the audio port. So I suppose I should hold fire on trying things until the service is done. That said, I will post some latencymon data here in a moment.

@RoHe​ Ron, many thanks for this. Much to think about. On my old PC, my illuminate Logitech keyboard with progammable hotkeys kept failing on boot and - doing my own digging - it was because my boot was so slow that power was being shutoff from the USB ports. So I know the exact setting you mean.

As replied to fireberd, Dell are arraging fit of a new audio port. They say if the problem still persists (i.e. a software or other hardware issue), then they'll assist further. I'm pleased that Dell are doing this - great customer service - but I still fear that the fault is a software one (or maybe NVidia compatibility). My initial thought is to wait until the port is replaced before trying things out - but I suppose there's no harm having a go in the meantime.

One other thing %windir%\System32\control.exe powercfg.cpl,,1 simply routed me to the "All Control Panel" window. From there, if I click on Power Options the pulldown offers no choice other than Balanced (and this is the case even if I go into Advanced Settings.

From windows\settings\system\power\power mode - lets me swap between Balanced and Best Performance. I guess this is the same thing?

As requested, LatencyMon info - the summary graphic alone is a heart attack. Any idiot-proof feedback welcome.

SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name:                                        
OS version:                                           Windows 11, 10.0, version 2009, build: 26100 (x64)
Hardware:                                             XPS 8960, Dell Inc.
BIOS:                                                 2.13.0
CPU:                                                  GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-14900K
Logical processors:                                   32
Processor groups:                                     1
Processor group size:                                 32
RAM:                                                  63138 MB total

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed (WMI):                             320 MHz
Reported CPU speed (registry):                        3187 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   331108.80
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   41.869072

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       331104.90
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       31.725173

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs):              1868.858174
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time:       HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%):          0.001875
Driver with highest ISR total time:                   HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%)                          0.002151

ISR count (execution time <250 µs):                   641371
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
ISR count (execution time 500-1000 µs):               839
ISR count (execution time 1000-2000 µs):              1
ISR count (execution time 2000-4000 µs):              0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs):              33148.602761
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time:       ACPI.sys - ACPI Driver for NT, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%):          0.011211
Driver with highest DPC total execution time:         nvlddmkm.sys - NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 560.94 , NVIDIA Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%)                          0.029546

DPC count (execution time <250 µs):                   6647000
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
DPC count (execution time 500-10000 µs):              99209
DPC count (execution time 1000-2000 µs):              5432
DPC count (execution time 2000-4000 µs):              234
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 8

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count:                 explorer.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults                       56384
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process:          13567
Number of processes hit:                              85

Correction. Just this moment found out that Dell are replacing the entire motherboard.

Gulp.

To connect the onboard Intel DP port on XPS 8960 to an HDMI monitor, you need a simple passive DP(PC)>HDMI(monitor) adapter. You can't use an active DP>HDMI adapter.  

The onboard port is DP++ and it should automatically detect an HDMI monitor via a passive adapter. If you use an active adapter, DP++ can't detect an HDMI monitor.

Any update?  it's been a week.